Company might consider underground line in valley

By J. Harry Jones

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

September 7, 2007

The visual wallop of SDG&E's proposed Sunrise Powerlink would be most dramatic through the Santa Ysabel Valley, many believe.

The valley is a patchwork of green fields and ranches nestled between rolling hills and mountains. The Powerlink, with steel towers more than 100 feet tall, would be a scar on the landscape visible for miles, opponents and residents say.

The utility company has balked at putting the line underground through the valley because of the cost: It is eight to 10 times more expensive to construct transmission lines below ground. But now SDG&E says it could support the idea of an underground line should the state decide that preserving the beauty is worth hundreds of millions of dollars – millions of dollars that would be paid for by electricity consumers across the state.

Adorning the bumpers of many trucks and cars in the area where state Routes 78, 79 and 76 come together are stickers proclaiming: “SAVE SANTA YSABEL VALLEY – Say No to Sunrise Powerlink – SDG&E Go Underground or Go Away.”

It appears that the underground option might just happen.

The state agency that will decide next year if the 150-mile-long Sunrise Powerlink transmission line should be built – and exactly how and where it would be built – is considering two undergrounding options near Santa Ysabel.

One option being studied by the state's Public Utilities Commission calls for a 9-mile section of the line to be built underground roughly from the intersection of state Routes 79 and 76 south to about 1½ miles southwest of Route 78. The other option would be to bury the line for about five miles through the valley beginning near Mesa Grande Road south, again to southwest of Route 78.

This week an SDG&E spokesman said the utility still prefers to build the line overhead through the valley to save money. But if the state opts for an underground line, “SDG&E would support it,” Scott Crider said.

Overview

Background: A segment of SDG&E's proposed Sunrise Powerlink electric transmission line would run through the Santa Ysabel Valley. Many residents oppose the line because they believe it would destroy the beauty of the area and reduce their land value.

What's changing: The state regulatory agency that oversees the project is considering putting the line underground through the valley, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The future: A final decision on whether the line is built at all, and if approved exactly where and how it will be built, is expected in about one year.

That represents a significant change in tone from comments made by the utility and Crider last year during a meeting attended by many local residents, said Denis Trafecanty whose home in the valley sits hundreds of feet from where the line could go.

Burying the line through the valley would cost an additional $150 million to $300 million, according to preliminary estimates, Crider said. That money, like the entire cost of the transmission line now estimated to be $1.4 billion, would be paid by ratepayers across the state with 10 percent of the cost coming from SDG&E customers.

SDG&E has already said it will put underground a total of nine other miles of the line in heavily populated areas south of San Diego Country Estates in Ramona and in Rancho Peñasquitos.

When SDG&E announced those undergrounding decisions last year, it quieted critics from those areas.

The Santa Ysabel Valley is not heavily populated. The land is owned by only a handful of people, some of whose families have lived in the area for nearly 100 years.

Trafecanty, who owns 50 acres north of the famous Dudley's Bakery, said that while underground lines are preferable to those overhead, he doesn't believe the line is needed at all and that even undergrounding options would alter the valley's landscape.

“You still will have permanent scars on your land from roads, equipment yards, cables, etc.,” he said. “Admittedly it would be better to have them underground, but it still would destroy the beauty of the Santa Ysabel Valley.”

The Sunrise Powerlink, as envisioned by SDG&E, would run from the Imperial Valley through the heart of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and over to a new substation near Warner Springs. The 500-kilovolt line – carrying enough electricity to power 650,000 homes – would then split into two smaller 230-kilovolt lines that would run from the substation, through the Santa Ysabel Valley, then southeast to southern Ramona and eventually all the way to a substation near the coast in Carmel Valley.

SDG&E says the line is needed to ensure a reliable supply of electricity for the San Diego region in the years to come.

A decision by the state whether to allow SDG&E to build the line will likely not be made until fall 2008.